Eagletarian Blog

Michael Vick will start at quarterback as soon as he is ready to return from broken ribs, coach Andy Reid said.

Asked to confirm for the record that was his plan, Reid said, "Yes."

"Michael feels a little bit better with the ribs," Reid said. "We’ll just take that day by day. If he had to play today, he wouldn’t be able to play."

Asked if he was optimistic that Vick would be able to play Sunday against New England, Reid said, "I’m literally going to just see how it goes, take it day by day."

Reid again reiterated that "I’m not going to put a guy out there if he can’t play." He said he was confident in Vince Young that he would be successful once he was able to knock the rust off. He also said he is confident in Mike Kafka, if needed.

Reid said Vick was the "first one to call Vince after the game.

"He’s a pretty competitive guy so I don’t think it was a whole lot of fun watching. He handled it well. He and Vince have developed a close relationship. Michael has been very good for Vince. They have a nice friendship there."

DeSean Jackson has a foot contusion, which is why he was wearing a walking boot after the game. Reid said Jackson was stepped on, the third or fourth play of the game, and mentioned it at halftime.

“It’s sore today, but it’s not a Lisfranc,” Reid said. “It’s tender. He came in early this morning for treatment. We will see how it goes.”

King Dunlap did not pass his Impact test last week following his concussion. “We will give him another one this week and see how he’s doing,” Reid said.

Jeremy Maclin is “getting better” with both hamstring and shoulder injuries.

Dominique Rodgers- Cromartie is “making progress” with a high ankle sprain but Reid said he was not expecting him back “for a while.”

Reid said Brandon Graham is making progress with a rib contusion, but he also has swelling in his surgically repaired knee, as Graham told the Daily News Sunday night.

“He did have a little bit of swelling in the knee, which isn’t unusual,” Reid said. “He also took a shot in the ribs, so that was bothering him. I was probably backing him off more for the leg than anything. Right now he’s into the third week of camp so that body is hurting. We’re going to back off and let him catch up a little bit.”

In non-injury news, Reid said he does not look back and wonder about how his team can be 4-6, despite strong efforts against Dallas and the Giants.

“We can’t do that right now. You have to take it one game at a time. There’s not enough time or energy to worry about all that stuff. You worry about you can control and that’s getting ready to play the New England Patriots. If you get into all that stuff, you will drive yourself crazy.”

He added, “I never go there. I’ve already knocked out this game here. We’ve looked at it and reviewed it. Now I’m on to the Patriots. By the time, I get in here. I’m well into the next team. There’s no time to do that, nor does that help you win. You concentrate on the things that can help you win.”

On fourth-quarter lead: “Nobody is happy with giving up a fourth-quarter lead. There’s an anger, there’s more of a want to get it fixed. Those are the things that drive you as coaches and players.”

On the offsetting penalties call: “From what I was told, it was called correctly. It doesn’t make sense … I didn’t understand it when I was out there. They explained it well. I’m going to do some research. That was one of those that you kind of raise your eyebrows .”

On the 18-play drive for the winning touchdown, the Eagles' longest since the 2001 season opener: “I do check the clock. You got to do that. That’s all part of it. You’re always thinking the next play. Marty did a nice job with the calls. Vince and the offense did a nice job with executing. We were aware that time was coming off the clock.”

The Eagles converted six third downs on the drive, including the touchdown play to Riley Cooper. They got several outstanding plays, including a gravity-defying second down catch from Jason Avant. Reid said he couldn't really focus on Avant's catch because he was concerned about guard Evan Mathis, who went down on the play, though Mathis quickly recovered. Reid likened the situation to "sweet and spour pork."

On Juan Castillo and the play of the defense: “I’m proud of Juan. He’s had a few pretty good game plans. Juan’s a standup guy. He realized that we’re all in the thing together coaches and players. He gives credit to his guys and they respect him. The thing you know if you’ve been around this league long enough, if a coach doesn’t know what he’s doing, the players are normally the first ones to call him out. Juan’s guys are all in. That’s a tribute to Juan.”

On contributions from Ronnie Brown: “He’s getting used to the offense, really. I didn’t trade him because I didn’t like him. He had an opportunity to go and start with the Lions because they were banged up, he’s a veteran player and been around a while so as long as I could get another back that was somewhat comparable.”

On the Patriots playing tonight: “We’ll have a chance to see them there. They’re a good football team, both sides of the ball, well coached. We have to make sure we go through the process. It starts with the coaches. Make sure we put together a game plan that’s good and present it to the players in a way they can understand it and then players do their part to go out and practice it and execute it.”